Journalism and knowing how to do it all
Harrison Holmes Shiloh Peters COMP II 11 April 2014 Everything New Media influence guides our life in this generation of ‘new’. New technology, new communication, everything is new. People are constantly looking for that new thing, whether it’s the newest iPhone or the brand new social media site we are always searching for the latest thing. With that in mind, out of almost all career paths journalists need to know how to keep up. News Anchor, Ron Burgundy, in the movie, Anchorman, displays for viewers what a journalist might do in a very comedic performance. While of course there are still news anchors today, is that really all that a journalist does? In the article, Normalizing Twitter, it touches base with what one should expect to do when following the path of a journalist. Anchorman Anchorman is a comedy about a news anchor, Ron Burgundy, and his life of being the lead news anchor for the most viewed local news station, Channel 4 News. Ron Burgundy and his team were the most popular, tacky guys in town but everyone wanted to be them and everyone wanted to go to their parties. At one particular party Burgundy meets this very beautiful woman, Veronica Corningstone. Burgundy of course, tries to sleep with Corningstone and she isn’t having any part of it. Later in the film Corningstone becomes one of the new anchors for Channel 4 News. Burgundy and his news team take this opportunity as a challenge and all of them make a bet to see who can get in her pants first. Burgundy, being the some what stud that he is, is the one who is successful. After this one nightstand they take it farther and pursue a relationship. The relationship ends because Burgundy cares more about his job as being an anchor than Corningstone. Spoiler Alert: Corningstone then ruins his career in the long run and then at the very end helps him resolve it again. This movie takes viewers on a journey of the “life” of a news anchor through dramatic events of hacked Teleprompters to low-interest news stories. While some of the information is true of a news journalist, a lot of it is made up for comedic value and doesn’t even begin to actually venture in to the whole world of journalism. Normalizing Twitter In the article, Normalizing twitter, it discusses the multiple forms of journalism. Not only is it talking about all the different types of journalism but also how journalism schools have failed to keep up with our ever-changing forms of communication. Normalizing twitter tells us that it’s not necessary that journalism is changing itself as result of these new communications like: twitter, tumblr, buzzfeed, etc. but that it is in a way changing the way journalists think about news and gossip. What most people might think of when they hear the word “journalist” is someone who writes for NY Times or broadcasts groundbreaking stories on television. This article shows us that those days have changed. One might not know but even the use of Twitter is a form of journalism, it’s called micro blogging. Which is just like a blog but a much shorter form that puts out what the viewers want or need to see. All forms of social media today can be taken as a form of journalism. But it’s important to realize that it’s not all about keeping up with the new forms of communication but realize, who is the intended audience? Is the audience a group of elderly people? Then it’s probably not best to publish the news or story to Twitter rather keep it to a news article that can be found online. If however, the audience is a college student who wants to know what’s happening on campus then a form of social media is probably most acceptable. Journalism is all about figuring out the intended audience, adapting to that and maintaining that relationship even as communication develops over the years. Let's Relate While in Anchorman viewers see a depiction of what some might think a journalist does, and maybe it was how it went back in the day. But Normalizing Twitter tells that it’s not the only form of journalism anymore. To be honest, not many people keep up with the news anymore. It just doesn’t seem to be about that, viewers care more about ‘what’s hot’ and ‘what’s new’ rather than the groundbreaking news portrayed on TV. Also, when new is reported now it doesn’t just go through broadcasted news or newspapers; you can find the news you’re looking for or any current news through blogs, twitter and other social medias, and other sites like buzzfeed that might put a spin on it. Advice For freshman, to start off most important thing to keep in mind is that media is always changing. With that in mind, journalism schools will teach you what they have been teaching about for years now. Not only is it outdated but it’s also categorized into three forms of journalism: News/Editorial, Ad/PR, and Broadcast. These three forms of journalism are important to understand but what’s more important is to know how to do all of them. You might want to go into journalism school for news reporting but with the way that communication is always changing you need to stay informed and how to keep up. With news/editorial you’ll learn a form of writing called, “AP Style.” You’ll also learn how to take a form of a news article and put it in Teleprompter format. While all of that is important, you also need to know how to post through a blog because news is also translated that way now a days as well, which is more of a conversational form of writing. The most important thing to remember though is to keep up with all the new forms of writing and adapt your style accordingly.� Bibliography "NORMALIZING TWITTER." Taylor and Francis. N.p., 21 Apr. 2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. . Anchorman. Dir. Adam McKay. United International Pictures, 2004. Film.